Best 12SL7?

sweet & juicy SE amp for 1626 Darlings and the 6L6 family

Best 12SL7?

Postby Zap » Thu Feb 28, 2013 6:57 pm

I'm in the process of my 1626 build, but I realized that I don't have even a single 12SL7 in my tube collection, so it is time to pick a few up (gotta have at least one spare, that's for sure).

I have two sets of 1626 tubes, both RCA (one is JAN in original military boxes). As far as I know, there aren't any new 12SL7's, and given the other tubes are NOS, I'd go with the same for the driver as well, especially since they aren't terribly expensive.

I'm just curious what the opinions are on the various options out there - I've seen RCAs with both silver and black plates, long or short plates, some with coated glass - there seems to be quite a variety. There are also other makes (GE, Tung-Sol, etc.). As usual, the vendors are mix and match and eBay is about double their price. That said, at least in the past, some vendors have been willing to see what specific tubes they've got in stock and allow me to choose which I wanted.
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Re: Best 12SL7?

Postby Shannon Parks » Sat Mar 02, 2013 6:05 am

I think RCA is the standard for me, though you can get great tubes from all the other classic manufacturers like you listed, and National Union & Sylvania. The nice thing about just needing a single tube is that you can get one via the auction route on eBay instead of random manufacturer Buy It Now.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-RCA-rad ... 27d02e659b

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Re: Best 12SL7?

Postby Thermion » Sat Mar 09, 2013 8:07 am

I have many 12SL7 tubes that I have been using that span several manufacturers and time periods. My favorites are "meatball" logo RCA's (early 1940s vintage with grey plates).

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Re: Best 12SL7?

Postby Zap » Tue Mar 19, 2013 4:36 pm

Picked up an RCA with the coated envelope at a decent price - the sections test fairly close to each other on my tube tester, so all looks good.

Just (still?) waiting on the iron to ship from Edcor - they've got a longer wait than they used to in the past. Otherwise, the PCB is all assembled and ready to go when the iron arrives. Will see how the setup sounds and maybe try a few more tubes eventually.
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Re: Best 12SL7?

Postby EWBrown » Wed Jan 28, 2015 8:53 am

Has anyone tried Raytheon 2C52s , these are 12 volt filament dual triodes similar to 12SL7, with the same "8BD" pinout, but with somewhat more gain, closer to that of a 12AX7.

Of course, these would be restricted to 12V filament Clementines, using 1626 or 12V6GT. I scored ten of these 1960 vintage 2C52s, last year, at a really good price [:)

http://frank.pocnet.net/sheets/201/2/2C52.pdf

Image

Hmmm.... if someone wants to get into the 2C52 re-selling business, here's a pretty good deal, lots of 100 NIB, for $650, six and a half bucks each.
Match them up, and then sell as matched pairs for $30-40. $) (love) :))

http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-NIB-Raytheo ... 20f3cff769

/ed B (I may have posted a similar question about 2C52s last year) :$ :)) O:) (banana)
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Re: Best 12SL7?

Postby Ludwig » Mon Feb 23, 2015 12:09 am

Did anyone end up trying the 2C52? More gain is not necessarily a bad thing in a low powered amp like the Clem!
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Re: Best 12SL7?

Postby Shannon Parks » Sat Feb 28, 2015 11:33 am

Ludwig wrote:Did anyone end up trying the 2C52? More gain is not necessarily a bad thing in a low powered amp like the Clem!


Thermion and I use them all the time. Definitely try them in the Darling Clem - they sound great! JAN tubes always sound better to me. ;)

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